In addition to laying down guitar riffs and vocals, Turner is an accomplished visual artist, responsible for cover art, layout, and package design for numerous bands. This unique knack for the aural and visual aspects of music inspired us to ask Turner about his favorite fellow double threats.

My Favorite Musicians/Artists/Designers
by Aaron Turner

Album art is and always has been an extremely crucial component of the experience of an album for me. Though there certainly have been records I've loved that have had terrible cover art, most of those that have left an indelible footprint in my mind have been those with a visual presentation of power equal to that of the music.

When I think back on the records that have shaped my ideas about what it means to make music, I usually have a tangible feeling that comes with that recollection, a sense of the atmosphere that the record created for me and how that atmosphere was accentuated or more clearly defined by the accompanying sleeve art. As that has been true in the past for me, so it is now; when checking out new records, I'm consistently drawn to those with compelling covers that draw me in and make me what to know what's going on inside.

In the last 10 years or so, I've become particularly interested in musicians who are also active participants in designing or creating artwork for the albums that they make. It seems logical to me that those people would have the best understanding of what the music is about and the clearest idea of how to communicate that visually. Some of my favorite album covers now are those that have been made wholly or in part by the musicians who also have created the music itself.

Below is a list of people who reside in that category of musician/designer/artist and who have excelled at both aspects of making memorable albums.

1. Fangs Anal Satan (Boris)

Boris has made some tremendous albums over the years, and the music has always been matched by the equally excellent illustration and design. Like the band, which has mutated through a series of different incarnations (in sound rather than personnel), so too have the visuals, without ever dropping in consistency of quality.

From album to album, numerous tactics have been employed: rigid restraint bordering on minimalism, unorthodox packaging materials (colored foam, die-cut cardboard, hand-painted boxes containing dried flowers, etc.), psychedelic fantasy scenes paying homage to '70s album artist Roger Dean, parodies of classic metal logos (Venom), extensive and beautifully arranged LP-sized photo books.  Each release is a special artifact in its own right and as such warrants even further focus towards the music and the packaging from the listener/viewer.

2. Faith Coloccia

Though many attempt to create interesting record sleeves by making handmade packaging, most simply content themselves with the fact that the packaging is handmade rather than actually thinking about the meaning of the materials being used, their relation to the music, or the end result of how the release will actually look.

Coloccia's work is quite the opposite: each element used is carefully selected specifically because of its direct connection to the music as well as how it looks visually — black ashes retrieved from a fire made on tour, fragments of materials used in live performances, yellowed paper inherited from dead relatives or discovered at sites used by the band members for varying purposes.

The emotionally driven and deeply personal sounds are reflected in the packaging, which clearly has been crafted by the same hands that made the music. Even in the instances where a more mass-produced printing method has been employed, the humanity of the creators still is clearly evident in the form of the expressive brush stroke, the age of the paper upon which it was laid, or the intimacy of handwriting used to draw out the text. In an age where computers have corroded the spirit of both album sleeves and the music that they encompass, this is a truly vital approach that is clearly more about artistry than marketing.

3. Stephen O'Malley

As a founding member of Sunn O))), Khanate, Burning Witch, and KTL, as well as the defining visual voice of Southern Lord Recordings, O'Malley has been a major driving force in forward-thinking metal-oriented music and visuals. One of the few operatives comfortable straddling the lines of fine art, doom metal, and experimental music of various forms, Stephen uses type as an image to largely define the sleeves for his own bands as well as those for others.

From the caustic appropriation of heavy metal's favored blackletter fonts to the vector-based sculptural abstractions of classic Helvetica, he creates visual worlds in which letters and images are mangled and twisted beyond recognition as are the musical formations they are intended to represent. Not content to make music that is quickly absorbed and quickly forgotten, O'Malley also favors packaging of a complex and elaborate nature, which, like the above-mentioned people, requires more effort to decipher and digest than most of the albums passed off as "heavy" and/or "experimental."

4. Andrew Chalk

One of the more elusive characters in this group, Chalk has made his mark as a solo artist as well as a member of drone-oriented projects such as Mirror, Ora, and as a contributor to David Jackman's Organum. Aside from having made sleeve art for the majority of his albums on other labels, he now has his own Faraway Press imprint for which he also does the most of the visual work.

Like the music he makes, his imagery is often abstract in nature, though not in an evasively vague way but in a clearly focused and deliberate manner. His art and his music seem to be based on the intersection of improvisation/chance and controlled manipulation, though I can only assume that this is the case due to the lack of information available on him. The results of his efforts are something that allows for multiple interpretations by the viewer/listener and provide for an ever-changing interaction with the works over time and subsequent inspection.

By favoring small editions of his releases, Chalk is able to expend extra and individual attention on his album covers, utilizing various processes of printmaking, drawing, and painting, thereby creating editions wherein no two copies of a given release are alike, allowing for an even more intimate connection between artist and audience.

Boris & Ian Astbury: "We Are Witches"

Boris & Ian Astbury: BXI

In 1964, media theorist Marshall McLuhan wrote, “As electrically contracted, the globe is no more than a village.” He was a bit off when it came to how peaceful this village would be, but culturally and musically, he may have been onto something. As geographical boundaries fall away and new systems of communication become as sophisticated and ubiquitous as speech, we can look forward to a world in which Ian Astbury of The Cult can write songs with Japanese drone rockers Boris.

On the surface, it is the strangest of pairings: a man more familiar for his work with post-punk and hard rock, singing in a guttural heave to Boris' wall of distortion and endless drum fills. In reality, behind this four-song EP, titled BXI, is a group of individuals intent on being “very fucking serious,” according to Astbury, about the music they make. The unforeseen collaboration features Astbury's growl on three originals, as well as a cover of The Cult's “Rain,” where Boris' Wata takes over vocal duties.

The men behind Southern Lord, Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley, facilitated the meeting between these disparate entities. According to Astbury, “Steven met me and kind of vetted me. Then he spoke of me with Boris, and the next thing I know, the material starts coming.” The meeting was nearly two years in the making according to Astbury, who originally wanted Boris to perform with The Cult. Instead, BXI showcases Boris’ ability to write for an iconic front man.

“Do you understand why 15-year-old boys are screaming into microphones and not singing?  Because nobody's fucking listening to them. Do you think that they're taking the way this culture is, and they're not affected by it emotionally? Absolutely, they're fucking affected by it.”

“I really feel like I'm around my people, my tribe,” Astbury says of the collaboration and of working with Southern Lord, “and it's just great to be in a room with people when I'm speaking the language and they understand it.”

“After Ian joined in the session,” Atsuo of Boris says, “we headed for a specific possibility that couldn't be seen by Boris alone.” At this point, however, the genre-straddling three-piece must be well attuned to collaboration, and its acumen has grown with every release. Boris has worked with the likes of Michio Kurihara, Merzbow, Haino Keiji, and Sunn O))), and each time, Boris discovers a latent connection between its members and its collaborators. This connection is where its brand of doom-laden hard rock blends effortlessly with the experimental vocal wails of Haino or the psychedelic styles of long-time collaborator Kurihara. Indeed, BXI sounds so natural after a few listens that it's difficult to see how the collaboration ever seemed strange.

Astbury is equally familiar with the collaborative process. He performed with UNKLE, fronted The Doors in 2002, played with MC5 a year later, and continues to bring what he has experienced and learned back to The Cult. “I've been at these other universities studying with these other masters,” Astbury says. “I want to bring this into whatever I'm doing. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I think that's bullshit.”

Lyrically, Astbury comes to terms with a few troubled years on BXI. The death of close friend and cinematographer Sean Watts led him to a reclusive artistic period that ended when he was given the collaboration with Boris.

“I basically threw in the towel at that point,” he says. “I really crawled out of a hole, so I had a lot of material to work with. I was wounded. I was hurt. In the past eight months, I've been really getting back on my game. The first thing I get given is Boris, and that was just overwhelming.”

Astbury says that Norwegian black metal has equally become a strong influence for him, personally and lyrically. That influence stems from what he describes as an attunement to nature, sensitivity, and experience within the Norwegian black-metal scene, which, as he says, turns anyone involved into willing outsiders of a materialistic culture.

Change “Norwegian black metal” to “British post-punk” in the previous paragraph, and the same words could easily be applied. “Bands talking more about feeling, not a part of society — this dystopian quality — that's always permeated the things I've done,” Astbury says Though sonically disparate, the post-punk movement, where Astbury first entered the music world with Sudden Death Cult, had in it some of the same dissatisfaction and anger as Norwegian black metal. Both movements came about as an attempt by the counterculture to revenge itself against mainstream influence that didn't satisfy emotionally or spiritually.

“Do you understand why 15-year-old boys are screaming into microphones and not singing?” Astbury asks. “Because nobody's fucking listening to them. Do you think that they're taking the way this culture is, and they're not affected by it emotionally? Absolutely, they're fucking affected by it.”

This may be why through most of BXI, Astbury belts out his delivery, forcing the listener to pay attention. Yet despite the existential and emotional import behind Astbury's words, BXI stays within the realm of fist-pounding raucousness throughout, with the exception of the final track, “Magickal Child,” which combines the doom qualities of “Rafflesia,” the first track on Boris' Rainbow, with the peerless, vibrato-heavy vocals of Astbury.

It’s an ending that encapsulates where the singer was emotionally before the project, and equally, the ability of Boris to recognize and perfectly match Astbury. “The forest knows just how you feel / In higher form, you shall be reborn,” he sings. The natural world that Astbury sees as an integral part of black metal is the world he tries to embrace and pull into BXI. With the help of Boris, it’s a fully realized vision—heavy, cathartic, and entirely unapologetic.

Drone-doom poster duo Sunn O))) will curate the 2011 festival, guaranteeing another exceptional lineup.  The two official members (Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley) have participated in various past Roadburns, and they will follow curators David Tibet and Neurosis from past years.  Specifically, the group will choose the events of Friday, April 15, personally selecting bands to play before headlining the event.

Last year’s stellar roster included Shining (Norway), Russian Circles, Earthless, Kylesa, Enslaved, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Jesu, Bohren Und Der Club of Gore, Nachtmystiuim, and Shrinebuilder.  The 2011 festival will take place on April 14-17 in Tilburg, Holland.

If a trip to the Netherlands is out of your budget, or if you simply cannot wait until April to see Greg and Stephen, you can get your Sunn O))) fix in September during their collaboration project with Boris (ALTAR), performing at ATP New York and Brooklyn’s Masonic Temple.

Making an impressive debut on Other Electricities, Nashville duo Tallest Trees is the union of two separate projects — an expansive solo experiment by Thomas Samuel (who began as Tallest Trees) and the looped-cello project of Dabny Morris (dubbed Human Voice).

Together, the two have created their own brand of off-kilter pop, weaving weird effects and echoing vocal harmonies over malleable foundations.

Each element — whether a wash of distorted guitars, a toy piano, or hymn-like singing — combines with the others to create a well-meshed, unique whole.  Glitches, found sounds, feedback, and more give The Ostrich or the Lark a warm, welcome feel.  It's a beautiful pop debut — one that will make many take notice.

Tallest Trees: "Alouette!"
Tallest Trees: \"Alouette!\"

Boris & Ian Astbury: BXI EP (Southern Lord)

Globe-crossing collaborations have become substantially easier in the Internet age, but Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley of Southern Lord have facilitated a pleasant surprise: the collaboration of UK post-punk, goth-rock front man Ian Astbury and Japanese drone-metal trio Boris.

Best known as the voice of The Cult, Astbury is no stranger to collaboration; he was chosen for the 2002 Doors reunion and has recorded with UNKLE and a number of other musicians.  The surprise, in fact, is that his work over these four songs with Boris sounds so natural.

BXI showcases Boris' ability to fit Astbury's style with fist-pounding rock rawness.  But the final track, "Magickal Child," may be the best, combining Boris' doomy qualities with Astbury's vibrato-heavy vocals.  The one cover tune — a version of The Cult's "Rain" — is another standout, featuring Boris' Wata handling vocal duties.

Both parties must be pretty satisfied too, because co-performances are scheduled for the coming months, and they're already discussing a followup.  Wherever that leads, the result is sure to be just as interesting.

Boris & Ian Astbury: "Teeth and Claws"

Asphalt Orchestra: s/t (Cantaloupe)

Co-directed by Ken Thomson and Jessica Schmitz, Asphalt Orchestra is a 12-piece marching ensemble that performs brass-led covers of eclectic selections as well as commissions from esteemed songwriters.

Thomson and Schmitz have ridiculous résumés, but the rest of the lineup is no less preposterous in talent, featuring members of Jerseyband, Gutbucket, Balkan Beat Box, Barbez, and Slavic Soul Party, as well as bandleaders and contributors to ensembles such as Bang on a Can, Alarm Will Sound, So Percussion, and others.

The twelve-tet's self-titled debut is a luminous romp, reimagining tunes from Frank Zappa, Charles Mingus, Meshuggah, and Björk with equal ease.  The group also delivers beautiful commissions by Tyondai Braxton (Battles), Stew and Heidi Rodewald (The Negro Problem, Passing Strange), and composer Goran Bregovic.

With matching uniforms and a diverse songbook, Asphalt Orchestra draws comparisons to Chicago's Mucca Pazza.  This NYC ensemble, however, employs choreographed moves and even more crowd interaction.  If you get the chance, don't miss them on your street.

Asphalt Orchestra: "Electric Red" (Meshuggah)
Asphalt Orchestra: \"Electric Red\" (Meshuggah)

Esperanza Spalding: Chamber Music Society (Heads Up)

Still just 25 years old, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding holds a glut of talents and a set of experiences that few can call their own.  And with African, Hispanic, Native American, and Spanish roots, Spalding has a heritage as diverse as her influences.

Her previous albums have mixed jazz singing, scatting, and down-tempo jazz with elements of chamber, Brazilian, and flamenco music.  For Chamber Music Society, her third full album, Spalding focuses on her chamber influences, albeit with bits of the other styles in the mix.

Best known as a bassist, Spalding has experience across various chamber instruments, and as a child prodigy, she became concertmaster of The Chamber Music Society of Oregon at age 15.  Clearly, the abilities never left, as Chamber Music Society is a collection of deliberate, delicate chamber-jazz tunes.

Spalding's vocals are less of a focal point, often used as accompaniment or absent for long stretches.  When they return, however, it's easy to hear why that aspect of her career is so celebrated.

Her next album, Radio Music Society, is in the works now and will explore funk, hip hop, and rock in genre-less creations.

Esperanza Spalding: "Short and Sweet"
Esperanza Spalding: \"Short and Sweet\"

Honorable Mentions

Brass Menazeri: Vranjski San (Porto Franco)

Camu Tao: King of Hearts (Def Jux / Fat Possum)

Chief: Modern Rituals (Domino)

Drivan: Disko (Smalltown Supersound)

Knights of the Abyss: The Culling of Wolves (Ferret)

Lissie: Catching a Tiger (Fat Possum)

Night Horse: Perdition Hymns (Tee Pee)

Orbs: Asleep Next to Science (Equal Vision)

Valkyrie: Man of Two Visions (Meteor City)

Recorded at Southern Studios, the Latitudes series reaffirms the bond between studio, label, and individual artists with the opportunity to record spontaneous, collaborative, or experimental work in the studio in a one-day session.  The result is truly unique, offering a more personal and relaxed experience from bands to their fans.

The packaging itself is complementary of this, distributed in limited runs primarily through small independent distributors, mail orders, web shops, and retailers.  The artwork for each cardboard CD case is personally embellished by the bands and framed within a template by cult musician/designer Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O)))).  In addition, an artisan sleeve motif is designed by each band with an insert bearing the details of the session, along with a photograph from the tour or session.

Gang Gang Dance’s Kamakura consists of one 15-minute track, recorded in August of 2007.  The group blends genres from indigenous to familiar Western forms, celebrating organic sound with non-verbal communications.

Sky Burial, by Nadja, is a 38-minute, two-track instrumental CD recorded in September of 2009.  Appealing to fans of Sunn O))) and Pyramids, the two lengthy tracks are crushing yet ethereal, in the habit of the group's usual doom-infused "dream sludge."

Distribution for both recordings is limited to 1,000 hand-numbered, rubber-stamped CDs and 1,000 vinyls.  Previous releases in the series, as well as upcoming recordings, can be found here.

It is tempting to chalk up this oversight to cultural disconnect (the three-piece hails from Japan), but a more apt diagnosis would be that for Boris, record sales and critical accolades are inconsequential compared to the experiences that making music has provided them and the joy of a synergistic working relationship with one another. Takeshi is quick to point out, in a somewhat Zen kind of way, that even the music itself has become a byproduct of something larger and more encompassing between he and his cohorts.

"When we first started playing, it was about making music, but the more we played the less it became about making music at all," he says. "It was about working together and what came out of it ‒‒ the joy of living, the joy of meeting people, and the experiences that it has brought me. By not making music, I found real meaning."

Defiant of convention, immune to pigeonholing, and predicated on experimentation, Boris (whose moniker was derived from the first song on Melvins' Bullhead) firmly established itself as one of the heaviest and most compelling doom-metal acts to emerge in the ’90s with Absolutego, a rumbling, interminable 65-minute onslaught. The album used thick, down-tuned chords sustained for achingly long durations that rivaled Sleep’s Jerusalem in terms of sheer might. The follow-up, 1998’s Amplifier Worship, found the group dabbling in slightly more traditional song structures, driving power riffs, and psychedelic sludgery (an approach they would revisit on 2003’s Akuma No Uta). After Amplifier Worship, 2000’s Flood submerged listeners in slow-building drones that coalesce into a veritable deluge of howling guitars and textural distortions.

Along with their many albums, there have been a slew of projects with artists such as Merzbow, Keiji Haino, and Ghost’s Michio Kurihara (notably on 2007’s triumphant Rainbows on Drag City). Two years ago they released Altar, a 2006 collaboration with Southern Lord labelmates Sunn O))).

“Three or four years ago we played with Sunn O))) in London, and thought it would be great to do a collaboration together,” says Takeshi. “Because we had become friends, it was a lot of fun, but in terms of the music that came out of it, it felt divine. It was music that had to be made, and when we did, it was like a release.” According to drummer/vocalist Atsuo Mizuno, “Altar was a document of Boris and Sunn O)))’s ten-year relationship.”

The most ambitious and most comprehensive of the Boris albums at the time of its release, 2005’s Pink was a rollicking patchwork of songs, showcasing melodic yet bottom-heavy hooks and low-frequency attacks that owed more to Blue Cheer, Motorhead, and Mudhoney than to Earth or Sleep. Despite the variances between each of their albums, there has always been an undeniable, singular philosophy of sound that permeates all of Boris’ music, even if the vocabulary used to articulate that philosophy is different from record to record. "There is something that is Boris in each of the albums,” says Takeshi. “But really, each time we make a new album, the goal is to get away from that."

The dirty, stripped-down yet texturally and tonally rich sound that defines Boris comes from a combination of classic equipment and sheer imagination. The band members use only Gibson guitars and record only on analog equipment but utilize numerous effects pedals and rely heavily on experimentation. "We love buying old equipment," explains Takeshi. "It's really an adventure in what we can find in crazy stores and then playing on that. It's all improvisation. Each time it's, 'What are the new toys that we found, what can we play with, what sounds can we make, and what comes out of that jam session?' When we get tired of the sound coming out of the improvisation, we might just stop and be like, 'All right, what's the coolest riff that we can think of right now?'”

"We experiment with different settings on our equipment and often screw up," Atsuo confides. "But even during those moments when we feel like we've made a mistake, if we just listen to the sound with new ears, we can discover great potential for all sorts of new sounds. We place equal importance on songwriting and creating the right sound.” If one fosters a good relationship with the world, communication becomes a much more enjoyable experience, according to Atsuo.

Perhaps the poster group for its genre, Sunn has spent the past 10 years experimenting in epic, doomy sound and noise.

Now, with Monoliths & Dimensions, the core duo of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson teams with guests galore to create, in the words of the group, "the most musical piece we've done."  Guest musicians Eyvind Kang (John Zorn, Bill Frisell), Jessika Kenney (Eyvind Kang, Asva), Oren Ambarchi (Burial Chamber Trio), Dylan Carlson (Earth), Julian Priester (Sun Ra, John Coltrane) and others help make that so, while retaining the creeping, end-of-the-world vibe that persists thoughout Sunn's work.

Khanate: Clean Hands Go Foul (Hydra Head)

As the belated swan song for the super-group collaboration between Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O)))), James Plotkin (Phantomsmasher), Alan Dubin (OLD), and Tim Wyskida (Blind Idiot God), Clean Hands Go Foul is a fitting endgame for Khanate's aural presentation of desolation and despair.  Evil ambience crests and falls, working with ominous chords and soul-shredding screams; naturally, fans of O'Malley's other work will love this.

Khanate: "Wings from Spine" (excerpt)
Khanate: \"Wings from Spine\" (excerpt)

Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest (Warp)

Unconventional indie darlings Grizzly Bear have pushed three years since their last full-length release, and the passage of time hasn't diminished the band's creative stroke.

On Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear's trademark vocal harmonies and layered orchestrations are still present, but the album features a slightly heavier touch of electronics and chamber elements.  By and large, however, this is the same Grizzly Bear, and preexisting fans won't feel alienated by this disc.

Sir Richard Bishop: The Freak of Araby (Drag City)

In his solo creations and many collaborative endeavors, ex-Sun City Girls guitarist Richard Bishop weaves through Arabic, Indian, flamenco, African, and Gypsy influences in both composed and improvised settings.

With his new album, he employs a clean, reverberated electric guitar in place of his usual acoustic sound, and he adds a bit of percussive assistance. For spring and summer tour dates, Bishop will perform with a full ensemble, which should make his ethnic creations even more compelling.

Master Musicians of Bukkake: Totem One (Conspiracy)

Milky and Don McGreevy of Earth, producer extraordinaire Randall Dunn (Secret Chiefs 3, Sunn O)))), Bill Horist of Ghidra, and other noted Northwest musicians comprise this collective that designs psychedelic, ethnically inspired folk freak-outs.

With Totem One, the group begins a musical trilogy while expanding and maturing its expansive sound.  The album's guests include Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls and Timb Harris of Estradasphere and Secret Chiefs 3.

Vieux Farka Touré: Fondo (Six Degrees)

The son of musical Malian icon Ali Farka Touré, guitarist/singer Vieux Farka Touré has garnered international distinction since the release of his self-titled debut album, issued the year after his famous father’s death.

That disc, which was remixed later in the same year, featured kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate on a pair of tracks and combined Mande and Sonrai folk styles with pop and a touch of reggae.  Diabate is back to help with Fondo, which finds Vieux taking more of a distinctive direction while improving his songwriting chops.